


Terraform

by lateralus112358



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Bending, F/F, space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 12:23:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13364637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lateralus112358/pseuds/lateralus112358
Summary: A glimpse of an outpost on a distant planet





	Terraform

Wind stirs up clouds of orange dust, which eventually settle back down onto the rocky ground, only to begin their cycle again at the behest of the next roving air current. Like a rust-covered ocean frozen in time, the waves of dunes spread across the arid landscape in all directions. The sun overhead shines down brightly, casting the valleys of the rolling dunes into dark orange shadow, but the air is chilly. A thin atmosphere prevents the rocky planet from retaining much heat. The air, while technically breathable, quickly renders people lightheaded from the low oxygen levels. Most on the planet, when outside of the oxygen-controlled buildings, wear a tube just under their nose, connected through insulated bodysuits to an oxygen canister at their hips. Bottles of water also hang from clips arrayed along the waist of the suit; the planet’s dry air draws out moisture and causes exposed skin to dry and crack without constant liquid intake.

One woman, suit boasting oxygen and water, hangs from a harness hundreds of feet up, suspended against one of the structures that marks the only break in the monotonous landscape of dunes. Wind turbines, their white color stark against the orange ground, are spread out in a large square of the dusty, wind-blown landscape. Massive blades rotate almost ponderously on all but one of the turbines. The woman hanging below the stilled blades had engaged a lock to impede their motion, allowing for maintenance on the structure.

The small radio built into her suit crackles with static briefly, and then a voice comes through. “We had wind turbines back home. I don’t remember them needing this much upkeep.”

Asami Sato, mechanical wrench in hand, focused on the presently-exposed gearbox of the device, replies back absently. “It’s something to do with the chemical composition of the air here. Corrodes the components. I’ve been thinking about fabricating a new material that will be inert when it interacts with this planet’s atmosphere…” she trails off, lost in thought. Terraforming a planet is a long, complicated process. Sato Industries is the leader in terraforming technology, many of their innovations designed or conceived by Asami herself, but the vastly differing conditions across planets still raise problems with the equipment. That’s one reason she comes on these frontier missions; it’s easier to correct the problems when she can see and feel the machines herself, rather than just reading reports sent back to her office. 

“Huh,” Korra, one of her other reasons, replies over the radio.

“Sorry,” Asami says, smiling. “Boring, I know.”

“No!” Korra says, and Asami can imagine her, on the ground below, waving her arms for emphasis. “No, I like listening to you talk about this stuff, Asami. You have a nice voice.”

Before, Asami might have assumed this to be a sly compliment on Korra’s part. Now, though, she knows that Korra always just says exactly what she means, often without thinking about it. And she’s completely incapable of guile. Her intentional compliments are much more blatant and uncoordinated, which Asami finds incredibly endearing. 

“Besides,” Korra continues. “Nothing could be more boring than being down here. I’ve been staring at dust and rocks for an _hour_.”

“Tenzin would say you should use this time to practice your meditation,” Asami teases lightly.

“Ugh,” Korra groans. “ ‘You must learn to _focus_ , Korra! Being bored is essential to proper meditation! Why, I myself I am so bored even people around me find themselves becoming bored!’ ” 

Asami laughs. Korra’s low-pitched impression of her mentor is surprisingly good. There’s genuine affection between them, Asami knows, even if they clash frequently. Korra’s a woman of action, Tenzin a man of patience. 

This planet requires more of the latter than the former, though. Korra’s always at the forefront of these terraforming missions, fighting off aggressive flora and fauna, exploring all the dangerous, unknown parts of planets. The most pressing danger this planet presents, though, is dehydration or lack of oxygen. Not really something Korra can fight against. Though she still accompanies Asami whenever maintenance needs to be done on the apparatus away from the base, just in case. 

The personnel currently on the planet is largely split between military and research. Once the terraforming starts to take, years down the road, civilians will be encouraged to make their homes here, but for now, they’re still trying to get the basic infrastructure in place. Once a solid power source is established, they can begin constructing enclosures to produce food, and eventually set up powered buildings and homes. By that point, Korra and most of the initial-phase personnel will have moved to the next world to begin the process anew. And despite her guilt at being away from home and her company for so long, Asami wants to be there with them. 

Closing the front panel of the gearbox and refastening it, Asami begins lowering herself in the harness, until she reaches the central shaft and the ladder that spans it. She reaches the base, and hops off, her boots scraping against orange dirt and rock as she reaches the ground again. Korra’s waiting there, pacing around restlessly. Like all the military personnel on the base, she wears mottled rust-colored army fatigues over her bodysuit, complete with a cap, sitting somewhat lopsided on her head. She looks good, though. She always looks good. She flashes Asami a easy, bright smile. “All fixed?”

“For now,” Asami replies. “We’ll probably be out here again in a few weeks.”

They set out across the dunes. Cold wind sears against their faces. The horizon in all directions is an expanse of red-orange plain, meeting the clear blue sky in a striking contrast. Formations of rock, low to the ground and weathered by years and years of stark wind sporadically appear across the landscape. This is a very still, quiet planet. Most indications suggest there hasn’t been any form of life beyond bacteria for millions of years.

“I feel useless,” Korra says suddenly.

Asami frowns.

“On this planet,” Korra elaborates, blue eyes trained on the ground, glaring at it like it had insulted her. “There’s nothing for me to do. I just stand around.”

“You’re helping me,” Asami argues.

“Come on, Asami,” Korra says, looking up. “You don’t really need my help.”

“So do you want to leave?”

“No!” Korra says, eyes flashing. “No, I just… I don’t feel like I’m needed here.”

“I need you, Korra.” Asami says firmly. “And everyone at the base relies on you, you know.”

Korra works her jaw for a while, considering. “OK,” she says eventually. Some people wilt under responsibility; Korra seems to yearn for it. “I guess I am learning how to be patient,” she adds ruefully. “Tenzin would be happy.”

They reach their mobile shelter; a rectangular, black, flat-planed vehicle. Built for endurance rather than style, the shelter is an entire base crammed into one room; food, water, oxygen, suits and weapons, a bed and a couch, and protection against outside elements. 

Upon entering, Korra immediately liberates herself from her fatigues and bodysuit, discarding them on the floor, and flops onto the couch in shorts and a tank top. “Time for dinner?” She asks.

“Aren’t you going to do your meditation?” Asami asks, knowing the answer already.

“I can’t meditate when I’m hungry, Asami,” Korra says, rolling her eyes.

This is actually true. The part Korra neglects to mention is that she can’t meditate at any other time either. 

Asami sits down next to Korra, who immediately latches on, wrapping her arms around Asami’s stomach and laying her head in Asami’s lap. This is one of the funny things Asami’s discovered about Korra; despite being stronger and tougher than almost anyone else in the military, she loves to be held. She’s very easily flustered by affection around other people, but whenever the two of them are alone, some part of Korra is wrapped around Asami. Korra seems unaware of any contradictions.

Asami grabs two nutritional bars from a pack beside the couch, and hands one to Korra, unwrapping her own. While effectively stopping hunger for as long as three regular meals, the bars are not particularly tasty. Korra’s made a game of trying to guess what components each one is assembled from. “Dirt,” she says now, chewing loudly. “Maybe sand. And crushed beetles.” Asami laughs.

“Tomorrow we’ll head to the next group of turbines,” Asami says, mostly to herself. “Until we come up with a permanent fix I’ll need to stay on the base to repair them.”

“You don’t need to make excuses to stay,” Korra says, rolling over so she’s looking up at Asami. “It’s OK for you to come on these missions just because you like it.”

“You don’t think it’s irresponsible?” Asami asks. “Abandoning my company to run off on adventures?”

“You’re not ‘abandoning’ anything,” Korra says, sitting up straight, tossing the empty wrapper of the nutrition bar onto the floor. “Besides, isn’t this,” she gestures vaguely towards outside their shelter. “What you like anyway? Building and fixing things?”

True enough, even after becoming CEO, Asami had spent most of her time in R&D, developing new ideas, making sketches, testing prototypes. She’d done fairly well as a figurehead for the company, but what was that compared to this, seeing her inventions actually being used? Being able to directly observe what works and what needs to be improved? 

And, of course, Korra’s here too.

“All right,” Asami says, pulling Korra close and kissing her. “You win.”

“I always win,” Korra preens. She pulls back slightly, bright blue eyes making contact with Asami’s. “I love you.”

Hearing her say that still sends a thrill through Asami. “Love you too.”

“Now come on,” Korra says, standing and pulling Asami to her feet. “If we go to sleep early I can count it as my meditation for today.”

**Author's Note:**

> If any of my regular POI folks are reading this, yeah it’s basically Out At The Edge with Korrasami. Space and other planets and sci-fi exploration fascinate me; I could write spacey stories forever and never get bored, probably.


End file.
